LG kicked off CES 2016, talking about the car industry, components, a relationship with Google and IoT devices everything that they don’t sell in Australia.
Then out came a new OLED TV, a push to try and establish themselves as a premium brand and a new version of a dual washing machine, the origin never made it to Australia and a fridge that you tap to turn a light on or kick to open a door.
The Company that is still awaiting their fate at the hands of the Federal Court over dodgy OLED TV warranty claims, then did a big push for OLED TV’s. Along the way they managed to steal a Samsung TV strategy called LG ‘Super Ultra High Definition’ which is remarkably similar to Samsung’s SUHD strategy which has been in the market since CES 2015.
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LG claim they are building a huge lead in the OLED TV market, the only problem is that they’re the only company making them at the moment and in Australia sales are slow according to retailers flogging the top end LG TV offering.
The new LG OLED TV looks sleek and premium. Billed as the G6 it comes in 77-inch and 65-inch screen sizes, as a “Picture on Glass” and a “Wallpaper Screen.”
It’s also extremely thin, measuring in at less than a tenth of an inch thick. It’s not exactly a sheet of wallpaper, but it’s as close as any TV has ever come.
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The only problem is that this is a premium TV unfortunately LG is not a premium brand, that consumers desire to own, which means that the Company is going to have to tip millions into marketing their brand in Australia.
The G6 also comes equipped with a soundbar that was co-developed with Harman Kardon. While it doesn’t completely detach from the rest of the set, it does allow you to position and reposition the speaker with a hinge. While that kind of A/V firepower usually comes with a five-figure price tag, LG says the G6 is expected to cost less than $12,000 in Australia.
No launch date for Australia has been set yet.
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The G6 and its new OLED stablemates are HDR-capable sets, and they’ll support both Dolby Vision and HDR10 content. LG claims the inky black levels of OLED helps the TVs deliver a really wide dynamic range, which means these sets will do it differently than competing 4K HDR sets.
This is the same message that Pioneer and Panasonic were pushing 10 years ago when the big buzz at CES was plasma and the now famous Pioneer Kuro engine, that Panasonic ended up owning.
The new LG can reach peak brightness levels up to 1,000 nits, and while the G6 and LG’s other new OLED TVs have higher brightness levels than previous models, they don’t use a super powered backlight system to achieve it.
LG claims its HDR technology uses the OLED panel’s superior black levels-0.0008 nits versus the 0.1-nit black levels of some LCD TVs-to produce a more expansive dynamic range than LCD HDR sets. In other words, these OLED TVs don’t need to get as bright to achieve a wider dynamic range, simply because the black levels are so deep.
Other OLED and HDR Options
The OLED E6, available in 65- and 55-inch sizes, will have the G6’s HDR tech in a thicker frame. It’ll also have something called a “Crystal Back Cover” to make it look good even when you’re staring at the wrong side of it. The OLED B6 and C6 are two “Blade Slim” designs that are thicker than the G6, but not by much: The OLED B6 is a flat-panel TV, while the C6 has the same specs in a curved screen. Both will be available in 65- and 55-inch sizes.
As with most CES announcements, pricing and launch dates are still up in the air for all those TVs. LG isn’t hanging its entire 2016 hopes on OLED, either.
Last week, the company announced its Super UHD line-up, a range of slim LCD sets that display Dolby Vision and HDR10 HDR video.
LG are not saying when their new TV range will be launched in Australia
